[OG Kush]

Time Warner Cable Desert Cities has pulled the plug on three ads promoting medical marijuana that were scheduled to debut Friday on four popular cable channels in the Coachella Valley.

The ads, produced by the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project, a local medical marijuana advocacy group, had been scheduled to run every other week for three months on Comedy Central, MSNBC, the Travel Channel and Home and Garden Television, said Lanny Swerdlow, the group's president.

"They are censoring speech that they don't approve of. They should not be doing that," said Swerdlow, who found out about the cancellation only after being called by a reporter Wednesday. "They should be in the business of fostering new ideas, not trying to squelch them," he said.

Swerdlow said he had signed a contract with Time Warner on Aug. 7 and paid the company for the first month. The contract allows the company to cancel the ads, but only with 14 days' prior notice, he said.

Swerdlow also expects a full refund of the money.

Kathi Jacobs, public affairs director for Time Warner, did not give a reason for the cancellation. "The ads have been turned down," Jacobs said. "They will not be aired."

But, she said, Time Warner will continue to run "Marijuana: Compassion and Common Sense," the half-hour show MAPP airs in the Coachella Valley at 11 p.m. Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays on cable access Channel 18.

The company has no control over content on the cable access channel, Jacobs said, beyond scheduling the show outside of prime-time hours.

While the use of doctor-prescribed medical marijuana is legal in California thanks to a proposition passed by the voters, under federal law, any use of marijuana is illegal.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a statement in April reiterating its long-held position that marijuana has no medicinal value.

The canceled ads sought to counter that view.

One is a pitch for the cable access show, which consists mostly of interviews with patients, researchers and medical professionals. The other two ads feature medical professionals - Dr. Philip A. Denney in one and Anna T. Boyce, a registered nurse, in the other - talking about the benefits of medical marijuana.

Boyce is one of the original sponsors of Proposition 215, the 1996 ballot initiative that legalized medical marijuana in California.

Speaking before the cancellation, she said, "I'm hoping that whoever listens to the ads, if they have a plugged mind, (this) will open it."


Newshawk: SX420 - 420Girls.com
Source: 420Times.com
Author: K Kaufmann
Copyright: 2006 The Desert Sun
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